Chapter 028: Mr. Wu Is Truly an Impressive Young Man!

Chapter 028: Mr. Wu Is Truly an Impressive Young Man!

“Well, Boss Li! What a coincidence, you’re dining here too today.” The first to approach was a bespectacled man, nearly fifty, thin as a rail.

“President Han, what a coincidence indeed.” Li Ruobing feigned surprise.

Han Deli, forty-seven, president and major shareholder of Longcheng Innovation Group, an electronics component business. Married twice, one son, one daughter. The company was thriving these days—booming, even.

The instant Wu Chen laid eyes on him, he silently recited Han Deli’s file in his head.

No introduction necessary.

He already knew the man.

In truth, Han Deli and Li Ruobing had no business dealings whatsoever—cosmetics and electronics components had little overlap. But among the wealthy, acquaintance rarely required commerce as a prerequisite. There were too many other ways to cross paths: business receptions, some magnate’s birthday banquet, a friend of a friend.

The rich loved making connections, and they pursued them aggressively.

Everyone understood the calculus: one more friend, one more road open to you; one more enemy, one more wall in your way.

Though Li Ruobing preferred to avoid socializing when she could help it, she never failed to know the people worth knowing. In the art of building connections, her natural advantages ran deep.

Among a room full of billionaires, she was strikingly young, beautiful enough to turn heads, and backed by formidable standing—a combination that drew attention in nearly any setting, prompting powerful men to seek her out on their own initiative.

She exchanged pleasantries with Han Deli, who naturally noticed she was dining with a young man.

“Your brother?” Han Deli asked, smiling.

He certainly knew of Li Ruotai—few in Donghai hadn’t heard the name Young Master Li. But the Li family ran deep and wide, with plenty of third-generation heirs, so Han Deli didn’t press on whether this was her actual brother. A cousin, perhaps.

Given how young the man looked, Han Deli hadn’t even considered him a business associate.

“No. This is my boyfriend, Wu Chen.” She gestured toward him with one hand. “Darling, this is President Han of Longcheng Innovation.”

Wu Chen rose. Before he could even offer his hand, Han Deli had already extended his own.

They shook, exchanging the requisite “pleasure to meet you.”

Han Deli’s face showed surprise—genuine shock, in truth.

He knew Li Ruobing was twenty-seven and had never once dated, seemed entirely uninterested in men altogether. Her string of “fake boyfriends” had long since become something of a running joke across Donghai’s business circles.

Everyone said she kept them around purely to fend off the marriage her family kept trying to arrange.

And everyone knew they were fake—for good reason. She’d never once brought a boyfriend out to dine like this before, only ever deploying them for specific occasions, purely as props. At business banquets, if she hadn’t specified the man beside her was her boyfriend, others would have assumed he was some lackey subordinate.

Never a single intimate gesture between them.

If Li Ruobing didn’t speak first, none of her previous fake boyfriends had dared speak at all—always meek, deferential, carefully pouring her tea and topping off her water.

Which was exactly why everyone had known. Every single one of them, fake.

But this time…

She’d just called Wu Chen “darling.”

And she seemed to be in genuinely good spirits today. For a woman of such fierce, commanding temperament, smiles were rare on her face—yet here she was, wearing one with total ease.

So… was this the real thing?

“Mr. Wu, an absolute pleasure, truly! Hahaha, Mr. Wu cuts a fine figure at first glance—you two really are a perfect match. Boss Li has excellent taste!” Han Deli’s mind worked fast, his booming laugh covering the calculation beneath it, praise flowing generously toward them both.

“Thank you, President Han, you’re too kind,” Wu Chen said, smiling, then traded…